


Mad Honey

by sunaddicted



Series: 007 Games Fics 2k20 [18]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Lies, M/M, Psychotropic Drugs, Recreational Drug Use, References to Drugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25363675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunaddicted/pseuds/sunaddicted
Summary: “Just a spoonful” 002 encouraged “It will make you feel better”
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Series: 007 Games Fics 2k20 [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1794529
Comments: 12
Kudos: 18
Collections: 007 Fest Fancreations





	Mad Honey

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fill for the "Lies" prompt of the Angst Prompt Table.
> 
> It also fills in Prompt 105 of the Anonymous Prompt Exchange (2018): Spies using "mad honey" a honey that causes hallucinations upon consumption.

_ Mad Honey _

“Just a spoonful” 002 encouraged “It will make you feel better”

James reached out, fingers cupping solidly around the glass jar; he knew its contents would uplift his mood, making him forget everything for just a little while provided that he didn’t exaggerate and ended up with hallucinations that were worse than his actual thoughts. He didn’t know who had made the consumption of mad honey a thing in the bowels of MI6, it was a custom that had already been in place when he had become a Double-Oh and if any of his colleagues had told him the tale, it was lost to the fogginess brought on by the sweet reddish nectar - a knowledge melted away on his taste buds.

There had been a time when James had consumed a great deal of it; after some missions, it just was easier to come home to something that would get him intoxicated than to endless medical and psychological tests, geared to unearth even the smallest thing that might have been wrong.

After Vesper, he had almost drowned in it - like a trapped fly, agonizingly drowning into its syrupy sweetness. Death by mad honey was rare, the worst it could lead to was arrhythmias that, if not recognised early one, could become life-threatening - still, James had risked it a couple of times, mostly because of the fact that he had taken the bad habit of mixing it up with other, more dangerous substances.

It had been hard to pry himself from the hallucinogen, to turn it down whenever it was offered to him, but like anything he set his mind to, he had managed and he could even barely remember the last time he had touched the stuff. The jar was different than the one he last remembered holding but that wasn’t necessarily a good indicator of how much time had passed: sometimes Double-Ohs went through them quickly, sometimes they lasted months and months.

But it really was calling to him now, head swirling with what had happened early that morning when the light of dawn had still been nothing more than a pearlescent gray luminescence, barely enough to help the eye make out shapes and washed-out colours without the aid of electricity. Q had been distant for weeks now, growing colder by the day but still, the other man hadn’t left - something had kept him tethered there,in their flat, and James had tried holding onto it, hoping that maybe it was just a moodswing; he knew relationship could have their ups and downs, he had rode more than one into its inevitable crushing and burning. He had been willing to wait it out, asking Q from time to time if there was anything wrong; if he needed to talk; if there was anything he could help with…

The answer had always been no and the kind of sweet, tired smile that his partner usually bestowed upon his cats whenever he came home from pulling a way too long shift, delighted by the fact that they hadn’t forgotten him and still would come to greet him at the door with their imperious and whiny meows.

James would have been lying if he said he had never felt a tiny bit jealous at how easily and openly Q shared adoration towards his cats.

Just like his reassurances had all been lies.

_ Yes _ , there had been something wrong.

_ Yes _ , he had needed to talk about it.

_ Yes _ , there had been something James could have helped with.

He still could - and he was going to, he already was on it together with M and Moneypenny - but he was angry at the other man for lying to him about something that while personal could have put the entire country at risk; he understood the reluctance, the fear, the shame… he understood it all, he knew how difficult and full of skeletons one’s past could be: his own brimmed with the dead he had forged his career on, a maelstrom of souls he had ripped to shreds for his own survival and for Queen and Country’s glory. Q should have known he wouldn’t judge - that, on the contrary, he could be someone he could take refuge and comfort in because he had already been there and done that.

The lack of trust hurt but it was something James could get over with in time, something he would be willing to work over with Q because the other man mattered to him maybe more than Q himself realised - and maybe that was a problem too, one that James had all intentions of solving once they dealt with the other’s past throwing its ugly shadow on their present.

What he really was pissed about was the lies: it would have been enough for Q to tell him that there was something but that he didn’t feel like he could talk it out with him and James would have pushed a little at the beginning but then he would have definitely told his partner to talk it with literally  _ anyone _ , that he wouldn’t care as long as whatever was the matter got resolved.

002 handed him a spoon, nudging him with it until he closed his fingers around the handle “It might even put things in a better perspective”

James pursed his lips, looking back at the jar - beckoning him with its amber-hued contents “I’ll think about it” there was a part of his brain that pointed out how resorting to a mild drug to deal with the mess of emotions he was feeling was quite the overreaction - the other one was salivating, craving the taste; the sense of liberation; the oblivion.

002 shrugged, backing off as she slung the towel across her shoulder beaded by the sweat of an intense training “You know where to stash it back”

He did - and far too well at that.


End file.
